Young heart patient inspires new song

St. Louis (KSDK) - When Erin Bode sings, instead of her voice, you hear her heart.

"The audience is everything," she said.

Home may be St. Louis, but her band "The Erin Bode Group" has performed all over the world. On this day they're recording their latest single.

"Telling the story of one child in particular," she explained.

When writing your own music, inspiration can come from anywhere. The inspiration for this song came from the seventh floor of St. Louis Children's Hospital.

Except for the doctors and nurses, no one has spent more time there than Katelyn Jackson.

"She was born with a complete AV canal. So in the center of her heart there was a giant hole," explained Karin Jackson, Katelyn's mom.

"In addition, in her case, it was what we call unbalanced in that one side of her heart was bigger than the other one," added cardiologist Dr. David Balzer.

Though just 10-years-old, she's already had six heart surgeries.

"Oh, she is absolutely the bravest kid I know," said her mom.

So when the hospital invited Erin for a visit, a meeting with Katelyn struck a chord. And pretty soon she was writing the prescription for an idea.

She found out that Katelyn's heart beat is recorded regularly on a digital stethoscope, so Erin and her band decided to use the recording in a new song. The idea is to bring voice to congenital heart defects which affect nearly one in every 100 babies.

"I think it's important to show people the life of a heart kid and what we're doing," said Katelyn.

The song is called "The Space Between," which just might refer to that fragile space between sickness and health.

The message is one of hope.

"I think the mood of the music expresses that as well as the lyrics," said Erin.

As for Katelyn, while it's true that she may need more surgeries at some point, like the song her future is full of optimism.

"In terms of her life expectancy, I would expect that she will do quite well and live a relatively long normal life," said Dr. Balzer.

Music can tell a story, and while Katelyn's is uniquely hers, this new Erin Bode song shows we all have something in common. The rhythm of life always begins with beat of our heart.

The song is available on iTunes and a portion of the proceeds will go to St. Louis Children's Hospital and Washington University Health Center.

Erin will perform the song live on February 25th at the Hearts in Harmony event.